


Home

by AvengersCompound (emilyevanston)



Series: Finding Home [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drug Use, Fluff, Kidnapping, Loki is a shit, M/M, Mentions of Sexual Assault, Mutant Powers, Parenthood, Sex Talk, Sexual Assault, Underage Drinking, Violence, gender fluid Loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 15:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16411154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyevanston/pseuds/AvengersCompound
Summary: 16 Years after the death of Daisy, Steve and Bucky have successfully raised two teenage kids with telepathy. Teens are never easy to live with though.  Sarah in particular likes to test boundaries.  Now on top of all the usual challenges of parenting, they have to deal with troublemaking demigods, a daughter who just wants to be accepted for who she is, and running the Avengers. That’s when the children of other super powered individuals start going missing.





	1. Chapter 1

Bucky pulled the last three sponge cakes from the oven and put them onto cooling racks. There were six in total. The other three were out and cooled already and ready to be assembled into a stack together and be decorated.

Steve came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. “You don’t think you’ve gone a little overboard?” He asks, kissing Bucky on the spot just below his ear.

“She’s 16. We have to make a big deal about it, Stevie.” Bucky said turning in his husband’s arms.

Steve tucked Bucky’s hair behind his ear and kissed him. The last 16 years had not been easy. Raising two children was always tough. Add to that they were both enhanced thanks to the super serum that ran both through Steve and Bucky and had also inherited their mother’s telepathic abilities. Abilities that far exceeded those of their mother. That made things harder. The fact their mother had died two weeks after their youngest was born, made it harder still. Being on the run from the law for the first five years of their youngest child’s life didn’t help. Their wanted status only ending when an alien invasion occurred. Well, parenting was difficult.

They’d done it though. Jamie was now 19 and at college. They still didn’t know the depths of his powers. His nature was too calm and sweet to test them the way others might have liked. He had done all the training and they’d taken him in to fight more than once against Steve’s orders. He’d fought well and may have been the reason why they’d been successful one of the times, but he just didn’t have that drive to fight. He would if it was necessary. Otherwise, he just liked playing music and learning. He liked to use his powers to help calm people. To heal them. When he was only eight he’d seen how his mother Daisy had removed the memories of both of them from Tony’s mind and he’d fixed it. Tony had broken down and this little eight-year-old boy had hugged him and soothed him using his mind.

Sarah had just turned 16. She was slightly more of a handful. Still a good kid, they weren’t worried about her turning to the dark side or anything so sinister. She didn’t lack empathy or kindness. She did, however, like to test boundaries and was adamant she would be an avenger. She tested her powers to their limits and took her fight training very seriously. Her powers scared Steve. Partially because in the back of his head the fact those same powers had killed her mother made him sure that one day she’d overreach and that would be the end of Sarah too. Mostly it was just because there didn’t seem to be an outer limit on them. Steve was quite confident that if Sarah wanted to, she could take control of every sentient being on the planet and have them do exactly as she wanted. That made her a target and he hated to admit this, but it made her a threat.

Putting their problems with Tony aside and moving back to the Avenger’s compound had helped. There were so many supers now. As Jamie and Sarah grew and realized they were different, having other people who were different around made that feeling of being a freak less persistent. It also helped Steve and Bucky teach them how to use their powers and when it was appropriate to. The whole ‘it takes a village’ mantra is especially true when your kids can just make you take them out of time out against your will.

“She would have been proud of her,” Bucky said. “She’s got her mom’s stubborn streak.”

Steve ran his thumb along Bucky’s jaw and turned. “I think she got that from all of us, pal.” He started pulling out the ingredients from the pantry to make the frosting. “How did you want this decorated again?”

“Sam’s been calling her mini-cap lately. She keeps saying she’s going to take over the role from you. Maybe the shield?” Bucky suggested.

“She’s not going to want something to do with me on her cake, trust me,” Steve said, laughing. “Hasn’t she been obsessed with that movie ‘The Shining’ lately. It came out while we were frozen, so I don’t know it well, but she keeps saying ‘red rum, red rum’,” He pinched his index and thumb together like they were talking as he said ‘redrum’ mimicking his daughter, “anytime I tell her not to use her abilities. Nat says that’s what that’s from.”

“Oh yeah, I watched that with her. I don’t know how you’d make that a cake. Maybe if you just wrote ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ over it again and again. She’d probably really like that.” Bucky said.

Steve laughed and shook his head. “Alright then. Leave it to me.”

* * *

Sarah stepped into her bathroom and assessed herself in the mirror. She’d taken after her dad in the looks department, blond hair blue eyes. Although her mom had had blue eyes too. And so did her other dad. It was a curse that affected the Rogers family. As did superpowers.

She’d been sparring with Natasha. Natasha had all but retired from the Avengers seven years ago when she and Clint had decided they wanted to start their own family. She did still train recruits though. After the workout, Sarah had just given her she’d said she was quitting that too. She’d said that Sarah needed to spar with Carol from now on.

There was no way that would be a fair fight. Yes, Sarah had super strength and the brain thing. But she wasn’t allowed to use the brain thing in combat training. Whereas Carol could fly and shoot energy blasts, and as far as super strength went, she made Sarah look like a feeble mundy.

It’s not like Natasha couldn’t hold her own anyway. Sarah was definitely going to have a black eye. Her dads would be pissed.

She opened the drawer where she kept her makeup, hoping that some concealer would hide it from them. If not she could always just push that it was fine and they wouldn’t notice. She looked down and came face to face with a box of condoms.

 _\- JAMIE -_ She pushed into her brother. She could do that no matter where in the world he was. Right now though, he was in his own bedroom writing a book report for college. He was back at the compound for her birthday.

 _\- WHAT? -_  He returned. The word filling her head.

-  _WHY ARE THERE CONDOMS IN MY BATHROOM DRAWER? -_

The feeling of laughter filled her head and was soon joined by the sound as Jamie strolled into her bathroom. He leaned up against the door frame. Jamie had taken after his biological father most. The strong jaw, and dark hair. Blue eyes again. The Rogers curse. “That was dad.”

“Which dad?” Sarah asked. Jamie showed his sister the image of Steve and she groaned. “Seriously? Why would he do that?”

Jamie couldn’t quite stop laughing. He shook his head and tried to get a hold of himself. “He did it with me too. He’s had the talk right?”

“Yeah, Auntie Nat helped,” Sarah said. “He was a fucking mess. Kept going, ‘you’re going to have these urges’ and ‘feelings down there’. He couldn’t even look me in the eye.”

Jamie burst out laughing again. “Well this is his way of letting you know he trusts your choices and that he wants you to be safe.”

Sarah pushed the drawer closed and went back to assessing her eye in the mirror. “Jokes on him. I’m a lesbian.”

Jamie’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, how can you not know? I think about boobs all the time.” Sarah said.

“I don’t look into your head, Sare,” Jamie answered. “Do the dads know?”

Sarah turned to him and headed back out of the bathroom. “I haven’t told them.” She said throwing herself on the bed.

“Why not? I doubt they’d care. I mean, you have two dads. Two dads who were once also with a woman both at the same time.”

Sarah shuddered. “Gross. Don’t make me think of them having sex.” She said. “Besides, I shouldn’t have to come out. I wouldn’t have to if I was straight. I should be able to just bring a girl home and say ‘this is my girlfriend’ and have them be okay with it or you know, chase them off with the shield and some kind of assault rifle the way they would a guy.”

Jamie sighed and sat down next to his sister. “I guess you make a good point. Do you have a girlfriend though?”

Sarah shook her head. “Have you ever used your powers on a girl when you liked them?”

“Uh no, Sarah. There’s a word for that and it starts with r and ends with ape.” Jamie said, punching her in the side. She caught his hand and squeezed his fist until he shook her free again.

“I didn’t mean like that. I mean …” She sighed and rolled onto her stomach hiding her face in a pillow. She said something but Jamie couldn’t understand the muffled words.

“What?” He asked.

“There’s a girl in my class and I like her. A lot. She likes me like that too, but her thoughts are all confused. Like she thinks maybe it’s just a girl crush. That maybe she just doesn’t like boys because the boys she knows are all jerks.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I just want to tell her I like her too and that her feelings are okay to have.”

“Aww look at you.” Jamie teased. “All crushing on someone and not knowing what to do. Guess what, that’s what most people are like.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but I’m not mundy. I can just tell her, right? Tell her I know?”

“You need to stop calling them mundane, Sarah. It makes you sound like you think you aren’t human. You’re still human.” Jamie scolded.

“They call us supers. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is you think you’re better than everyone else and you aren’t. You’re just different.” Jamie snapped.

Sarah groaned. “If I wanted a lecture I’d go talk to dad. Help me!”

“I dunno, Sarah. Just tell her you like her. If she doesn’t reciprocate she’s not ready.” Jamie shrugged. “Now, speaking of dad. You totally need to mess with him. You should start taking out condoms from the box. Start with one, and then just keep taking more. He’ll replace them. Then when you have heaps, if he still hasn’t pulled you aside to question you about all the sex you’re having, put them all back in the drawer.”

Sarah cracked up laughing. “I can’t do that to him. He’d have a fucking heart attack.”

“You chicken! Little daddy’s girl.” Jamie teased.

“Yeah well …” She gave him the finger and he left the room laughing. 


	2. Chapter 2

The party for Sarah’s 16th birthday started at around six. It was more of a family event, Sarah had somehow beyond all reason and without using her powers convinced both Steve and Bucky to let her go to a music festival with her friends over the weekend. So, for now, it was just the Avengers and any of the other kids who currently inhabited the compound.

Sarah played nice, but somehow the party just seemed to remind her how much of a freak she was. Sure there were others there who were enhanced. Carol, Wanda, Vision were all forces to be reckoned with. Peter had come up from Manhattan with Mary Jane and their little girl, May Day. May Day was obviously enhanced too. Otherwise, everyone else was mundane. Add to that the fact she was gay and everyone kept asking her about boys and she didn’t want to do the coming out thing like that, and the two dads and a dead mom factor, that everyone tiptoed around despite how their minds screamed out about it. She just felt like an outsider.

She plastered a smile on her face and acted like she was having fun. It was important to her dads. So she would do it for them. In about two weeks she’d start getting reminded about how her mother had died and so for now, it was pretend to be enjoying herself.

At seven the gods arrived. That made her feel a little bit more normal. Nothing like being in the presence of deities to make you realize how average you are.

Thor greeted everyone warmly. He hugged Sarah tightly wishing her a happy birthday. Sarah secretly loved hugs from Thor. She always acted like she didn’t, she’d pull a face. Deep down though she liked that Thor didn’t use kid gloves on her. Anyone else would break a rib being crushed like that. She liked being recognized for what she was.

Thor gave her battle armor as a present. She was extremely than excited about that. She couldn’t contain her excitement.

“Oh. My. God! Maybe while I’m waiting to take over Captain America from dad I can use some kind of Warrior Princess name for my code name.” She squealed.

“It may be time for you to try to lift the hammer! Perhaps you can take the mantle of Thor from me!” Thor roared.

“Hey if you’re worthy of the title, I would have to be a much worse of a person than I am to lift it.” Sarah teased.

Thor clapped her on the shoulder bellowing with laughter.

Bucky looked over the armor. “I don’t know, Sare. This doesn’t look particularly practical. Your arms and legs and midriff would all be bare leaving you exposed.” Bucky poked Sarah in the belly.

“Dad!” She squeaked and elbowed him.

“Plus that metal would be heavier and allow for less movement than what dad uses.”

“But it looks so cool,” Sarah whined.

“You worry too much, Barnes,” Thor said. “The Lady Sif has fought many a battle in armor much like this and come out with nary a scratch. I am sure the Lady Sarah could handle herself.”

“Let’s see what dad says,” Bucky said. “Steve!”

“No! No, no no no! Daddy!” Sarah squeaked trying to pack the armor back up. Bucky started laughing.

Steve strolled over. “What did you get, Sarah?” He asked kissing Sarah on the crown of the head.

“Nothing. It’s just stupid.” She said, trying to hide away the gift.

“I just gave her some new armor. She will make a magnificent warrior.” Thor said, taking the box from Sarah and handing it to Steve.

Steve opened the box and examined its contents. “This doesn’t really look practical, Sarah.” He said, gravely. “You aren’t on the team though, so if this is what you want to train in.” He shrugged.

“I’m 16 and stronger than most of you here! Why can’t I be on the team! You took Jamie out with you!” Sarah cried.

“Sarah, you’re just too young,” Steve said.

“It’s because I’m a girl! Isn’t it? You let Jamie when he was 16!” Sarah yelled.

“That was against my better judgment,” Steve said, remaining as stoically calm as he always did when dealing with Sarah’s temper.

“It’s not fair!” She yelled.

“Sarah,” Steve said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She jumped up and stormed off. Steve went to follow but Bucky caught his hand. “Let her go. She’s young and she takes after her dad at that age. She just needs to cool off.” He said.

“I just wish she’d see …” Steve said, collapsing onto the couch.

“Oh like you did, when you were 4F?” Bucky said.

“Jerk,” Steve said.

“And you’re a punk. And she’s your daughter. Way more than you might be comfortable with. You should let her come along sometime. Maybe she can have a uni like yours.”

“She could be Miss America,” Steve said.

Bucky burst out laughing. “I think Thor’s battle armor would fit Miss America better.”

* * *

Sarah stormed through the facility and ended up in one of the training rooms. There were sparring dummies set up and she punched one. It pulled clean out of the floor, shot across the room and slammed into the wall.

There was a slow clap behind her. She spun around in a defensive fight stance. It wasn’t often people could sneak up on her and it always put her on edge when it happened. Loki stepped out of the shadows still clapping and strolled over to her. He was in his full regalia. All black leather and gold. The only thing missing was his ridiculous helmet.

“Loki. You scared the shit out of me.” Sarah said, relaxing.

“ _I_ scared  _you_? But look at what you can do. You have nothing to fear from the likes of me.” Loki crooned. He stepped up close to Sarah and she stood, looking up at him, not willing to let him intimidate her.

“What do you want, Loki?” Sarah asked.

“Nothing. You just seemed upset. You are much better than all of them. You are a goddess compared to all of those mortals.” Loki said.

He put his hand on her arm and Sarah burst out laughed and pushed him away from her. “I am one of those mortals, ya fricken idiot.”

Loki laughed. “Can you be so sure? Look at your father. He hasn’t aged much since I first saw him. Besides we have ways of extending life on Asgard.” He walked up behind her and put his hand on her waist. “Wouldn’t you like to rule. I think you were born for it. As I was.”

“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Loki. I’m into girls. You’re really not my type.” Sarah said, pushing his hand away.

“Oh, I can accommodate that too.” He spun her to face him and his form shimmered and changed into that of a beautiful, pale-skinned woman, with dark green eyes and jet black hair that fell down to her waist in waves. “What do you think? Do you find this form more appealing.”

Sarah faltered for a moment. She’d never even been kissed before and here was Loki offering her the whole world. She did look stunning as a woman too. The fact she couldn’t hear the thoughts of Asgardians was also nice. It was the only time she could be around people and fully relax.

Sarah shook herself. “No, because you’re still like a million years older than me. That’s pretty fucked up Loki. I’m not even legal, ya creeper.”

“Well, I can wait,” Loki said. His form shimmered back to that of a man again and he pulled a flask from his pocket.

“You’ll be waiting a long time.”

“I have all the time in the world,” Loki said. He uncorked the flask and took a drink and then offered it to Sarah.

She took the flask hesitantly. “What is it?” She held the flask to her nose and inhaled. It smelled like honey, fruit, and hibiscus with a strong undercurrent of alcohol.

“Asgardian mead,” Loki said. He strolled away from her like he was now bored. Looking over the training equipment.

Sarah sniffed it and took a sip. It was sweet and heady and burned as she swallowed it. She started coughing.

“Can’t handle your drink, Sarah?” Loki asked. “I guess you are too young.”

Sarah prickled at his words. It was one thing for her to acknowledge she was too young for something, it was another thing to be told by someone else. She lifted the flask to her mouth again and took a few large gulps. She had barely even lowered the flask when the drink kicked in. Her vision swam and she started giggling.

“I really like this.” She slurred.

“By all means,” Loki said, waving towards her to continue drinking.

Sarah took another large gulp. The room started to spin and she staggered towards Loki holding out the flask. He took it and put his arm around her waist to steady her.

“You do look pretty as a girl, Loki.” She said.

“You weren’t tempted at all?” Loki asked.

Sarah started giggling. “Maybe a little bit. I’ve known you too long. That’s really creepy, dude.”

The door to the training room banged open and Steve stepped through. “There you are, Sarah.” He said. His eyes narrowed as he saw Loki with his arm around his daughter’s waist. Loki let her go, and she stumbled a little.

“Hello, daddy.” Sarah slurred, stumbling towards Steve and throwing her arms around him. “I’m sorry I yelled. I know you’re just trying to look after me.”

“Are you drunk?” Steve asked.

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Sarah said.

“Loki. What have you done to her?” Steve growled. He straightened himself up to his full height, throwing his shoulders back.

“Calm down, soldier. She’s just had a little mead. I didn’t force it on her.” Loki said.

“She’s underage. You should know better.” Steve snapped.

Loki waved him off. “Simple misunderstanding. I am not fully averse of your Midgardian customs.”

Steve glared at Loki and then turned away from him, supporting Sarah back through the door. “What am I going to do with you?” Steve said as they walked back towards the living area of the compound. “Your father worked so hard on your cake.”

“I wanna eat my cake. What kind of cake is it? Daddy makes the best cakes.” Sarah giggled.

“He can not see you like this. Why would you drink something Loki gave you?” Steve asked.

“You keep acting like Loki is this big bad guy, but I’ve never known him as one. He’s just Thor’s brother.” Sarah said.

“He killed thousands of people, Sarah,” Steve said.

“So. You. Said. But he’s still always here. Don’t be mad at me, daddy.”

“I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed. You want me to trust you and then you do things like this.”

They stepped outside and Sarah looked around perplexed. “This isn’t the way to cake.”

“I’m hoping some fresh air might sober you up a bit so when your father sees you he won’t overreact. If you want to still go to that music festival with your friends, you might want to think about how much he’d be disappointed in you if he saw you like this.” Steve said.

Sarah’s face fell. “I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t you?”

“I did. I just wanted to try it. I’m sorry.” Sarah said. She couldn’t look him in the eye. This disappointed dad she got from Steve was far harder for her to deal with than the grounding that Bucky would most likely have given her.

Steve put his hand on her shoulder. “You’re young, Sarah. You’re allowed to make mistakes. That’s how you learn. It’s also why you aren’t ready to come out into the field as an Avenger.”

“Shit.” She mumbled, kicking the dirt at her feet.

Steve pulled her into a hug. They were interrupted by the screech of tires on asphalt. A red and gold Bugatti tore up the drive. It had a huge ribbon on the hood and flew straight towards Steve and Sarah before screeching to a halt in front of them. Tony jumped out of the car.

“Uncle Tony!” Sarah squealed, running to him and throwing herself into his arms.

“Happy birthday, princess,” Tony said, squeezing her. He held her out at arm’s length and then held out the keys to the car.

“Oh! My! God!” Sarah yelped, snatching the keys from his hand. She threw herself onto the hood of the car. “I love it!”

Steve shook his head. “This is too much, Tony. We can’t accept it.”

“Daddy, no!” Sarah cried. “I love it so much. Please, can I keep it?”

“Yeah, daddy,” Tony teased. “Please?”

Steve groaned and rubbed his hands down his face. “Fine.”

Sarah squealed and then ran for the driver’s seat. “Can I drive it?”

“I don’t think so, Sarah,” Steve said.

She pulled a face and climbed into the car, looking over all the features.

“Is she drunk?” Tony asked.

Steve nodded.

Tony threw back his head laughing. “You got one like me.” He clapped Steve on the shoulder. “How did it even happen? I thought she would be immune to alcohol.”

“Asgardian Mead. It’s going through her fast though. She’ll be sober soon.”

“Thor did this?” Tony asked.

Steve shook his head. “Loki.”

Tony’s eyes darkened. “Of course.”

A second car pulled up behind the Bugatti. This one a black Audi sedan. Pepper climbed out of the driver’s seat and their fourteen-year-old son Howard climbed out of the passenger seat. Howard took more after his mother. Tall, wiry and with bright red hair. He ran around to the passenger seat of the Bugatti and climbed in. Steve watched at the two teenagers started pressing random buttons on the car and laughing together. He smiled.

Pepper strolled over to the two men. “I’m so sorry, Steve. I told him not to.”

Steve greeted Pepper with a kiss on the cheek. “It’s fine. It wouldn’t be Tony if it wasn’t extravagant.”

Steve approached the car and tapped on the window. Sarah rolled it down and looked up at him.

“Come on, you. They’re all waiting.” He said.


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah spent the rest of the week at school with the mundies. Her dads’ attempt at her having a normal life. It made her feel anything but normal. Being around so many people thinking so many ridiculous thoughts was like being constantly yelled at about algebra and which member of whatever dumb band was the hottest.

She could shut them out but turning off her ability took energy and she had to focus on it. If she was focusing on that then how do you learn? If you’re not learning why be at school?

She also didn’t know for sure if she was learning. Sometimes she knew. She’d get an assignment, take it home and work on it by herself locked in her room. If she could figure it out then yes, she had actually absorbed the necessary information. If not she’d go to Vision and he’d help explain it in a way she understood.

At school though she was just a mess of other people’s thoughts. Taking a test was futile. It meant nothing. When a room full of people are all thinking the same thing it was hard for her to know if she was also thinking it because she knew it, or because their thoughts had overwhelmed her.

She had made some friends though. A small group of kids whose thoughts didn’t anger or disgust her. Who when she spent time relaxing around their silliness was both intoxicating and a relief. Her group of friends consisted of three other people.

Daniel, a small pale blond kid who wore glasses and had severe asthma and mild autism. He was quiet and liked video games and his thoughts were never cruel. In a lot of ways he reminded Sarah of her dad, but in many ways, he was as far from Steve as he could be.

The other two were twins, McKenna and Olive. Identical in most of their physical features. Curvy and beautiful with dark, warm complexions. McKenna wore her hair in long braids and dressed in plaid and denim. Her thoughts were mostly about math. She thought about math way too often to be normal. If she wasn’t thinking about math she was thinking about ways to annoy her sister. Olive wore her hair in short dreadlocks. She tended to wear floral dresses and knee-high socks. Though not all the time.

Olive was the girl who filled Sarah’s thoughts the most. She was glad they were friends. She just wished she wouldn’t keep pretending to like boys when she didn’t. Olive did have very confused thoughts. Sometimes Sarah just wanted to grab her and kiss her. Instead, she just settled for the fact that because Olive was so confused she did that thing where you’re overly affectionate. They hugged and held hands a lot.

The four sat at their usual table in the cafeteria. Sarah was scowling. Lunch hurt the most. There was so much noise. She concentrated hard and switched it off.

“What the hell was that car you drove to school in today?” McKenna asked. She threw a tater tot into the air and caught it in her mouth.

“My uncle gave it to me for my birthday,” Sarah answered. She wasn’t really paying attention. She found it hard to when she had to focus on keeping everyone out.

“What the hell does your uncle do that he can afford to buy his niece a Bugatti? And is he married?” McKenna said.

Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose. One of the reasons why she liked this particular group of friends is they had no idea who she was in the grander scheme of things. In the past when people had found out who she was, they either rejected her because of what she could do, or they used her as a way to touch fame.

“He’s in IT. And he is. Sorry.” She says.

“Have you all asked anyone to the dance?” Daniel asked. He was fiddling with his fingers and wouldn’t look them in the eye.

“Nah,” McKenna replied. “Do you want to go with me, Dan?”

“Really?” He said.

“Of course. I’d love it.” She said.

Daniel looked really pleased with himself before accepting. “What about you, Sare? Got your eye on any boy to ask?” Olive asked.

Sarah shrugged. “The only guy at this school I like in any way just said yes to McKenna.” She answered. Daniel blushed a little. “I think I need some air.”

She got up and headed outside being closely tailed by Olive. “What’s wrong, Sarah? Do you actually like Daniel? I think McKenna just asked him to be nice. If you said you wanted to she’d back off.”

Sarah shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I was just getting really hot in there. And I wouldn’t doubt what’s going on with Dan and McKenna if I were you.”

“Really? She hasn’t said anything to me.” Olive said.

“And have you said anything about who you like to her?” Sarah asked.

“No, but I don’t really like anyone really.”

Sarah frowned. “Okay. Sure.”

Olive took her hand. “Can you believe we’re going to Artmania tomorrow?”

“Nope. My dads are so overprotective. I am always surprised they let me go anyway. I’m so excited though.” Sarah said, squeezing Olive’s hand.

* * *

“You know we wouldn’t have come to see you people if I had any other choice.”

Steve watched the perpetually angry Jessica Jones pace his office as she ranted at him. Her husband Luke sat looking defeated in the chair opposite him.

“Ms. Jones, I’m more than happy to help, but you haven’t actually told us what the problem is,” Steve said.

“It’s our daughter Danielle. She’s been missing for three days.” Luke said.

“Why didn’t you come sooner?” Steve asked.

“I find people. It’s what I do! I should be able to find my own kid.” Jessica snapped.

“So tell me what you have found.”

Jessica and Luke gave Steve the complete rundown. Their twelve-year-old daughter, Danielle had gone to school on the bus as usual but had never come home that night. She had gone to school as normal, caught the bus home as she always did. She’d gone missing somewhere between the bus and home and no one seemed to have seen anything.

“She can fly can’t she?” Steve asked.

“It’s more like controlled falling. And before you ask, she didn’t run away. I’m sure of it. Someone has taken her.” Jessica snapped.

“What other abilities did she inherit?” Steve asked.

“All of them. She has the bulletproof skin, the strength, the flying.” Luke answered.

“So if she was taken, there must have been a struggle,” Steve said.

Jessica picked up a chair and threw it. It shattered against the wall. “I knew these holier-than-thou fucking Avengers wouldn’t help us!” She yelled. “Someone took her! You have children! What if it was one of them missing?”

“Jessica, I’m just thinking out loud. If someone took her, then someone saw it. If someone saw it and they’re not saying; they’re scared.” He looked at his watch and then back to the couple in front of him. “My daughter will be home soon. She’s met Danielle hasn’t she?”

“What does that matter?” Jessica asked.

“You know what she can do right? If she knows what Danielle’s mind feels like she’ll be able to tell us where she is.” Steve answered, trying to remain calm. This was troubling though. He was pretty sure Danielle had probably just run away. He knew first hand what twelve-year-old girls could be like. If she had the powers they said, it was unlikely she could be taken anywhere against her will. If they were right though and she had been taken; he didn’t even want to contemplate what that could mean.

“I think they met. It was a long time ago though. During the attack by the Shi’ar Empire and we left her here with Potts.” Luke said.

“FRIDAY, can you send Sarah in here when she gets home,” Steve said.

The voice of FRIDAY filled the room. “Sarah returned home ten minutes ago, Captain Rogers. Do you want me to send her in?”

“Thank you, Friday.”

Sarah sulked into the room a few minutes later. “Dad, I swear to god, I didn’t cheat and if I did I didn’t mean to. You know how hard …” She cut herself off when she saw the others in the room.  “What’s going on?”

“Sarah you know Ms. Jones and Mr. Cage don’t you?” Steve asked.

Sarah shrugged. “Yeah, sort of.” She said. Then her eyes lit up. “Oh my god! Am I going on a mission? I’ve been training heaps. I can do it!”

“It’s not that, Sarah. Their daughter has gone missing. Do you remember Danielle?” Steve asked.

“Uh, sort of. You want me to find her?” Sarah looked at Jessica.

“No, I want to keep worrying about her until it kills me. Of course, I want you to find her if you can.” Jessica snapped.

“It’s been ages. Can you think of the last conversation you had with her? Like actually picture it.” Sarah said.

Jessica closed her eyes and thought about talking to Danielle over breakfast. How she’d needed three different forms filled out to go on the school camp.

Sarah pulled away and then flopped down on one of the chairs. “This could take a while. Dad, I’ll probably need something to eat when I’m done. This kind of thing always fucks me up.”

“Language, Sarah.” Steve scolded. Sarah could feel how both Jessica and Luke wanted to laugh but they couldn’t quite bring themselves too. Their worry was consuming them.

Sarah closed her eyes and sent her mind out. She scanned the city of New York first, touching on any mind she found even vaguely familiar. When that brought up nothing she spread out. She became a machine touching every mind like they were connected via a living circuit. Checking to see the brain pattern she knew to be Danielle Cage. She touched everyone everywhere and found nothing.

She opened her eyes. Her mouth felt tacky. The sky had gone dark outside. She must have been searching for hours.

“Did you find her?” Luke asked looking at her hopefully.

Sarah looked over at her father not knowing what to do. He handed her a glass of orange juice and nodded to her. “I don’t know how to say this. But if she’s still alive I don’t think she’s on Earth anymore.”

Jessica broke down in tears.


	4. Chapter 4

Bucky leaned against the bus stop shelter on Tenth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. He watched his son pace up and down the Street corner. He’d stop for a minute and hold his forehead before pacing again. After a while Jamie strode over to Bucky, his brow furrowed and his lips pursed.

“I dunno, dad. I think you should have brought Sarah out for this. That all city scanning thing is more her expertise. I’m better at the altering people’s thought pattern thing.” Jamie said, running his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah, but your sister has school,” Bucky said. “I know you can do it. We just need one person who saw anything. Keep trying. I have faith in you.”

Jamie shook his head. “There’s just so much noise. I can’t …” He trailed off, perking up and looking at a woman across the road.

“Got something?” Bucky asked.

Jamie pointed at the woman. An elderly white woman, pulling a bright pink shopping trolley behind her. “Can you go ask her if she saw anything. Even if she denies it, she’ll think about it.”

Bucky dashed across the broad avenue, darting in and out of the cars, much to the vocal annoyance of their drivers. He reached the woman and stepped in front of her. “Excuse me, ma’am.” He said. Pulling a photo of Danielle Cage from his jacket pocket. “I’m Bucky Barnes. You may have heard of me. I work with the Avengers.”

The woman eyed him suspiciously. “You’re the one with the metal arm.” She said it like it was an accusation.

Bucky smiled and held out his hand, flexing his fingers. “That’s me.” He said. “I’m just looking into the disappearance of this girl.” He held out the photo of Danielle to the woman. “Her name is Danielle Cage. She went missing from around here four days ago. Do you recognize her? Remember anything strange happening?”

Something dark flashed over the woman’s features and she winced like she was in pain. Her eyes clouded and when she finally spoke it was in a strangely chipper voice that didn’t match what she’d been saying previously. “I’m sorry, young man. I haven’t seen anything unusual. At least no more so than normal.”

“Are you sure, ma’am? Think real hard. Her parents are worried sick.” Bucky asked. He glanced back across the street to Jamie. He had one hand on his temple and the other was twitching like he was using one of Stark’s holographic computers and sorting through some files.

The woman scrunched up her face and actually made a sound like someone had hit her. “No,” she said. “I’m sorry. I need to go home. I think I’m getting a migraine.”

Bucky thanked her and made his way back across the road. “Anything?” He asked.

“Some people blocked off the street. They shot Danielle. No warning or anything. They must have had some of those bullets that were developed especially for Cage. I thought they’d run out of those… anyway, she just dropped. They dragged her into a van and then rounded up all the witnesses and injected them with something. I don’t know what but that memory was clouded something fierce. I think no one’s talking because no one remembered it happening.”

Bucky scowled. This was really bad. Not just some spur of the moment scheme. This has been plotted and executed flawlessly. “Could you tell who they were?”

Jamie frowned and wrung his hands. “Her memory was clouded. But dad, I think it was Hydra.”

* * *

Sarah sat in the back of the car with Olive and McKenna while Steve drove them to Artmania. Bucky was riding shotgun and McKenna was pretty obviously smitten with him.

It had taken all of three minutes after meeting Steve and Bucky for the two girls to realize that their best friends two dads that she rarely ever spoke about were, in fact, Captain America and The Winter Soldier. After some extreme fangirling that had made Sarah want to wipe their memories and kick them out of the car, things had finally settled down. While Sarah and Olive happily chatted about the bands they were going to see, McKenna drilled Bucky with questions.

She asked him about battles he’d been in, what it was like ‘in the olden days’, about his arm. She was obsessed with the arm. Could he feel with it? Did it hurt? How strong was it? She’d touch it and ask him if he felt it.

Eventually, Sarah snapped and told her to cut it out which made Steve smirk and Bucky punch him in the leg.

Steve pulled the car up to a drop off zone near the front gates. He turned his chair and looked back at the girls.

“We’re trusting you with a lot here, Sarah. You’re here to listen to music. Not meet boys. Not to drink. Not to take drugs. Don’t let us down.” He said.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Ugh, I know, dad. Can we go?”

“Alright. Have fun. If you get in trouble call me.” He answered. The girls jumped out of the car and Steve watched as Sarah grabbed Olive’s hand and the three girls made their way to the entrance laughing.

“Don’t think you’re gonna have to worry about boys there, Stevie,” Bucky smirked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steve asked.

“I think our girl might be into girls,” Bucky said. “Look at her.”

Steve shrugged and started to pull the car out turning it in the direction of home. “Girls are just like that. It’s not like when you and I were growing up either. Everyone is always touching.”

Bucky threw his head back, roaring with laughter. “I can’t believe you of all people can’t recognize when a person might be trying to hide their feelings in case they’re not reciprocated. She’s totally into that Olive girl.”

Steve scowled trying to remember if Sarah had ever mentioned crushes she had at all. She certainly wasn’t the boy-crazy type they paint teenage girls as on TV. She also liked to follow Carol around like a lost puppy. He’d always assumed it was because she saw her as a mother figure and she had powers that Sarah was envious of. What if that wasn’t it at all?

“Oh god, Buck. I have to give her a whole different talk.” Steve said, mortified.

* * *

“Why didn’t you tell us those were your dads?” McKenna squealed, as they made their way towards the festival entrance.

“Yeah, well look at how you reacted.” Sarah groaned.

“Did they adopt you or like are you related to one of them?” McKenna said.

Olive’s eyes went wide. “You can’t ask her that!” She yelped.

Sarah sighed. “No, it’s fine. Might as well get it all out on the table. Ask away.”

They joined a line for bag checks and McKenna jumped up and down clapping her hands. “Well, that one first. Like adopted. Surrogate. What?”

“It’s complicated. My dads both were with a woman as well. My brother’s biological dad is Bucky and mine is Steve.” Sarah said.

“That’s so weird!” McKenna squealed.

“McKenna!” Olive groaned covering her face.

“What happened to your mom? Did they break up?” McKenna asked.

“She died. Not long after I was born.” Sarah explained. They reached security pausing the conversation while they had their bags checked.

“So was she super-powered too?” McKenna asked.

Sarah nodded.

McKenna’s hands flew to her mouth. “Are you super-powered? Oh my god you are, aren’t you? What can you do?”

Sarah sighed. This was it. This was the day she lost her friends. “I have the strength …”

“Oh. My. God! How strong are you?”

“Pretty fuckin’ strong. Also, I can do this head stuff.”

McKenna grabbed her by both arms stopping them in their tracks. “What kind of head stuff?”

Sarah picked McKenna up and moved her from the path. McKenna squealed with delight and jogged after her. “I can read minds. Control people. Change memories.”

McKenna’s eyes went wide. “You can read my mind? What am I thinking now?”

“You’re thinking about how hot my dad is. Which is gross by the way. You know he’s like literally over a hundred years old.” Sarah groaned.

“He’s still hot. Both of them are. They used to share a girlfriend, you say? So they’re bi, not gay. Maybe they’d like to have another one?” McKenna said, throwing her arm over Sarah’s shoulder.

“You’re disgusting,” Sarah whined.

“Hey don’t talk to your new mother like that. You’re grounded, young lady.”

They made their way through the ticket gates and towards the main stage. Olive had started leaving room between her and Sarah. Sarah sighed. The whole festival was going to be soured by this. Olive had worked out what it meant to have a friend who can read your mind and now she didn’t want to be friends anymore.

Sarah approached her and put her arm around her waist.

Olive shrugged her off and stared at her. “Sarah …”

“I  _can_  read minds. I don’t do it to my friends.” Sarah said. It was a lie sure. But Sarah didn’t know what else to do. Either lie or have no friends. Olive noticeably relaxed.

The three girls spent a few hours listening to bands at the main stage and then decided to go take a walk around the festival. The bought some foods from food trucks and decided to eat it sitting around a fire pit.

“I didn’t realize how cold I was until we sat in front of this fire,” Olive said, scooting closer to Sarah.

A couple of guys in their mid-twenties whispered something to each other. “We’ve got something that will help you warm up.” One of them said offering a flask to the girls.

McKenna took it hesitantly. “What is it?” She asked.

“It’s just whiskey. You aren’t scared are you?” The guy says.

McKenna pulled a face and defiantly took a drink before handing it to Olive. She started coughing as the liquid hit the back of her throat. Olive followed suit and passed the flask to Sarah.

Sarah toyed with the flask. She’d promised her dad she wouldn’t drink but she also knew it wouldn’t affect her. She raised it to her lips and stared at the guys over the fire and then skulled the whole container in one go. She tossed the flask to the guys who were staring at her with their mouths hanging open.

“Holy shit, Sarah!” McKenna said. “Is that because…”

Sarah nodded and made the zip it gesture over her lips.

Sarah’s stunt had the opposite effect to what she wanted. The guys were spurred on in their attempts to hit on her and her friends. They bought more drinks and kept plying the girls with them. As Olive and McKenna got drunker Sarah just started to get jealous. Other drugs were offered to them and once again Sarah remained completely sober.

“You guys should really stop now,” Sarah grumbled.

“That blond guy is cute, don’t you think?” Olive said, ignore Sarah and rubbing her face on Sarah’s arm.

“You don’t even like boys,” Sarah said.

Olive looked at her with her eyes wide. “You said you didn’t read my mind.” She said. “You’re a freak. I do like boys. Leave me alone.” She pushed Sarah and then moved around the fire, sitting next to the blond. She glared at Sarah and the blond put his arm around her.

Sarah sighed. “And so it begins.” She muttered to herself.

“Hello, princess.” A familiar voice said, from behind her. Sarah turned to see Loki standing behind her.

“Loki? Did dad send you to watch me?” She asked.

Loki sat down next to her. He was dressed in casual black clothes. Blending in well with the crowd at the festival. He laughed. “You think either of your fathers would trust me to watch you.”

Sarah giggled. “I guess you’re right. What are you doing here?”

Loki ran his hand through Sarah’s hair, twirling a lock of it around his finger. “I can tell when something is bothering my future queen.”

Sarah elbowed him. “Cut it out, creeper.”

“You know you are above all these insects. You should not concern yourself with their mortal problems.” Loki purred.

Sarah frowned. “But look at them. Dad told me not to drink or do drugs. But why bother telling me? It doesn’t do anything. I could take all the drugs at this festival and just walk out of here. I just want to be a teenager and fuck up and make mistakes like a teenager.”

Loki played with Sarah’s hair for a moment in silence. “I have something you can take.” He said. “It should affect you.”

Sarah looked at him twisting her hands together. Olive had started kissing the guy she was sitting with. Sarah could feel that she wasn’t enjoying it. It was just to upset her.

“What does it do?” She asked.

“For an Asgardian it makes us see other realities. It opens our minds and connects us with all things. It can cause paranoia. Being connected to everything can make the evils come to the forefront.” Loki explained.

“I already feel connected to everything,” Sarah said, frowning.

“On this realm. Yes.” Loki said. “It’s up to you. I know what it feels like to not belong.”

Sarah looked back at her friends. They did seem to be having a kind of fun she was jealous of and worried that she wouldn’t be able to understand.

“Okay.” She said.

“Open your mouth.”

Sarah tilted her head back and opened her mouth. Loki dripped some liquid from an ornate glass vial onto her tongue. It affected her almost immediately. Her pupils dilated and the world suddenly cleared. She looked at the fire and she could see lifeforms skip from the flames. Glowing green threads seemed to run between each person, binding them together. She looked at Loki. He shimmered blue.

She raised his hand so it faced palm out and hovered it in front of hers. Sparks traveled between them, blue from him and red from her. They stood out compared to everyone else there.

“Can you see that, Loki?” Sarah breathed.

“I have seen it. Yes.”

“Why are we different to everyone else?” She asked.

Loki chuckled. “Because we are gods, my darling. Why do you think I’ve started pursuing you like I have?”

Sarah started dancing her fingers over Loki’s palm, watching how their sparks intermingled. “I’m a god? But my parents weren’t gods. Not like you are.”

“No, you’re something new,” Loki said. He moved his hand to her back and slowly ran his palm up and down her back. He knew the risk of this high turning into something dark and dangerous. He spoke softly. Soothing her.

Sarah rested her head on Loki’s shoulder watching the fire dance. “Loki can you be a girl again?”

“Certainly.” His form shimmered. Sarah stared at her and poked her breast.

“How come I can feel them?” She asked.

Loki laughed. “It’s not an illusion, my love. I can be what you need me to be.”

“How come the mundies didn’t notice you change?”

“They are feeble witted. They only notice what they want to.” Loki said, still stroking his hand up and down her back.

Sarah looked back over at her friends. They were both flirting and kissing with the guys opposite her. She sighed.

“What’s wrong, princess?” Loki asked.

“How come the only person who’s interested in me is like a million years older than me and has known me my whole life? It’s weird.” She said.

“These mortals fear all who are different to them. I, however, see you for who you are. I see your value. I can wait for you. You are worth the wait.” Loki replied.

Sarah looked into Loki’s eyes and swallowed. “No one has ever even kissed me.” She said.

Loki stroked her fingers over Sarah’s jaw. “What do you want, my darling?”

Sarah shook her head.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” Loki asked.

“I - I - I want you to …” She started leaning into Loki and her head suddenly snapped to the side staring at her friends. The thoughts from the men over there had filled her head. They were planning on taking Olive and McKenna somewhere quiet to fuck them whether they wanted to or not.

Sarah jumped to her feet and stormed over to them. “Get the fuck away from my friends!” She shouted.

Her vision went dark and she felt like something was clutching at her. She spun around to see nothing. The fire was green not red. When she turned back one of the men was on his feet yelling. She could hear him and she couldn’t. There were so many voices. She punched out and he went flying.

McKenna jumped to her feet and grabbed Sarah by the shoulders shaking her. “What the fuck, Sarah?” She shouted.

“He was gonna - gonna do stuff.” Sarah grabbed her head. It was all becoming jumbled. She turned to where Loki had been sitting. He was gone.

Sarah grabbed Olive and McKenna by the hands. “We have to go!” She said and started pulling them to the exit.


	5. Chapter 5

Steve drove in silence. Sarah sat beside him. She hadn’t spoken since he answered her call begging for him to come pick her up. Her eyes were darting around the car and she kept scratching her arms. He knew they’d taken something. The other two girls, giggled constantly in the back of the car before he’d dropped them off and walked them to their door.

He now had two concerns. What had Sarah taken that was still affecting her this strongly. And should he ask her? He wanted to ask. Every fiber of his being wanted to shake her and ask her what the hell she was thinking. But he had promised if she was brave enough to call him if she got in trouble, she would be forgiven her transgressions. Her safety was the most important thing.

He reached his hand over and moved her hands to her lap. “There’s nothing there, Sarah.”

She suddenly grabbed her head. “Stop yelling at me!” She yelled.

“I’m not yelling,” Steve said.

“You want to be. I can hear it! I can hear everything. What did she take? What did she take? What’s gotten into her? How can I trust her?” She looked at him, eyes wild. “I just want to be normal! Why do you look like them, just brighter, but I’m red? I don’t understand. What am I? You said I was your daughter.”

“You are my daughter.” Steve soothed.

“Then why don’t I look like you?”

“You look exactly like me, Sarah.”

Her eyes rolled in her head. “No. No, no. I am something else. Loki said I was a goddess. Was my mom a goddess? Is that why I’m different? But then why did she die? Why did she die, dad?”

“Did Loki give you something? Tonight?” Steve asked. He felt both helpless and furious. He could see the compound lit up in the distance and he still wasn’t sure what he needed to do when he got there. Did he wake Bruce try and figure out what she’d taken? Let her sleep it off? Nothing had prepared him for what to do when his daughter who shouldn’t be affected by drugs at all was like this.

“Loki is blue and I’m red. What do you think that means? Does it mean something?” Her eyes darted around again. “I’m not normal. Why can’t I just be normal? I don’t want to go to school anymore. Why do you make me do that? They all hate me or fear me. I can’t focus on anything. Do you know what it’s like for me? Do you even care what it’s like for me?” She burst into tears.

He reached over and stroked his hand through her hair. “Why didn’t you say something, Sarah?”

Sarah flinched and put her hands over her head. “Normal life. She needs a normal life. I can’t keep them out. They’re in there all the time.”

“James liked school.”

“I’m not Jamie!” She screamed.

Steve pulled the car into the garage and turned to his daughter. He tilted her face up to his. “What did you take, Sarah?”

She wouldn’t make eye contact. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I took something. Nothing works on me. When I get hurt I just have to be hurt because that’s my burden. I didn’t choose to be this way. You chose. You chose it. I didn’t choose it. Why? Why did you make me like this and you won’t let me be who I am? You want me to be normal. I’m not though. I’m not and I’ll never be.” Her eyes suddenly snapped to his. “Stop yelling. Stop yelling at me!”

Steve let her go and got out of the car. “FRIDAY, please wake Doctor Banner and ask him to meet me in the medical wing.”

“Of course, Captain Rogers.” FRIDAY returned.

Steve helped Sarah out of the car and led her towards the medical wing. As they walked down the hall Bucky stepped out into the hall. He looked bleary-eyed and was in a pair of striped pajama pants. “Steve, I woke up and you were gone. What’s Sarah doing home?”

“It’s fine, Buck. Go back to bed.” Steve answered.

Bucky stepped in front of Sarah. “What happened?”

“People want to use us. All the time. They wanted to do things to my friends. I wouldn’t let them. No, no, no. You can’t do that.” Sarah rambled.

“What people?” Bucky looked over to Steve. “Is she high?”

“I think she must have taken something. She won’t say what or who gave it to her though.” Steve sighed, his shoulders slumping.

Bucky grabbed Sarah by the shoulders. “What did you take?”

“Why don’t I look like dad? Do you know? Maybe Loki knows. Where did he go?” She leaned up to Bucky’s ear. “She was a girl you know?” She whispered.

“Loki!” Bucky yelled. He let Sarah go and she started to wander down the hall muttering to herself.

“I’m going to take her to Bruce to run some tests. We’ll worry about who when we know what and she’s sober again.” Steve said.

“Loki! Get here now!” Bucky yelled again.

“Buck…”

“Don’t you Buck me. Look at her. I knew she couldn’t be trusted.” Bucky yelled. “Loki! I know you can hear me!”

“How may I be of service?” Loki purred stepping into the hall as if out of nowhere.

“Did you do this to her?” Bucky seethed.

Sarah turned and started to walk towards Loki with her hands out. “Loki sees me.”

“Of course I do, Sarah,” Loki said. She hugged him around the waist, pressing her face against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her.

“Get your hands off her and answer the question. Did. You. Do this to her?” Bucky growled. He flexed his fingers on his cybernetic hand.

“Calm down, Barnes,” Loki said guiding Sarah back towards Steve. “It’s hardly my fault you’ve made your daughter feel so alien that she comes to a god for comfort. She has taken Vekya. It’s an Asgardian elixir for opening the connection between an individual and the universe.”

Bucky charged at Loki slamming him against the wall, his hand at his throat. “So let me get this straight. You gave a 16-year-old, human girl, some kind of alien hallucinogen without having any idea how it might affect her?”

Loki started laughing. “You actually think she’s human? How deluded are you, Barnes?”

“I’m deluded? I was there at her birth. I know who my daughter is.”

“Do you really? What do you think, Sarah? Does he know you? Really?” Loki asked.

Sarah shook her head. “Why am I red? Loki, do you know?”

“What is she talking about?” Steve asked, looking to Loki. “She keeps saying that she’s red over and over.”

Loki pushed himself free from Bucky and approached Sarah. “She’s talking about her aura for a lack of a better word. What she is seeing is how different she is to everyone else.” He held his hand out palm up to Sarah and she danced her fingers over it, staring transfixed at the way her and Loki’s auras blended together. “I told you before why you were red, have you forgotten?”

“Because I’m a goddess?” Sarah breathed.

“That’s right.” Loki purred.

“Get out of here. Stay away from my daughter. If I see you near her again I will kill you.” Bucky seethed.

Loki threw back his head laughing. “I would certainly love to see you try, Barnes. But I will go. I know when I’m not wanted.”

There was a shimmer in the air and Loki vanished. Bucky grabbed Sarah by the arm and started dragging her to the medical wing. “I can’t believe you were so reckless. You are grounded indefinitely. No dance, no training, nothing.”

“You’re hurting me,” Sarah said, struggling against Bucky’s grip.

“What could possibly have gone through your mind when you took that?” Bucky snapped, ignoring her.

Sarah lashed out. She threw Bucky and he slammed into a wall. She stepped up to him, squaring off her shoulders. “No one cares about what I want. Only what they want for me. He put condoms in my bathroom. I don’t even like boys but he wants me to have sex with them.”

“That’s not why I…” Steve stammered.

“I just want to be an Avenger. No one listens. I gotta be normal. Normal. Normal. I’m not normal, dad. I’ll never be normal.”

“Sarah, shh. You need to calm down.” Steve soothed. He touched her shoulder and she spun on him.

“Why do I have to be normal. Why can’t I just be me? Am I not good enough? Is there something wrong with me?”

Steve opened his arms. “Oh honey, of course, you’re good enough. I’m sorry if we ever made you feel like you weren’t perfect just the way you are.”

Sarah fell against him and started sobbing against his chest. Bucky got to his feet and wrapped his arms around both her and Steve. “That was quite a right hook you had there, young lady.” He said.

“I’ve been training.”

Bucky laughed. “I can tell.”

Steve stroked his fingers through Sarah’s hair. “Tomorrow we can talk about all these things you’ve been keeping in, okay honey. I promise we’ll really listen. But right now, we need to find out what was in the thing you took and if we need to be worried.”

Sarah stood up straight again and wiped her eyes. “Okay.”

* * *

After Bruce ran some tests on Sarah and concluded that nothing in the drug would cause lasting damage and that it was working its way through her system at a rate that indicated that it would all be passed by morning, Bucky and Steve put her to bed and crawled into their own together.

“I can’t believe she’s been feeling this way and just keeping it to herself like that,” Steve said curling up against Bucky’s shoulder. He felt weak and vulnerable and Bucky wrapped his arms around him.

“Yeah, because you were always open and honest about your feelings when you were her age.” Bucky scoffed. “I know I overreacted. She’s a good kid and she just wants us to be proud of her. I think she’s been trying to be what she thinks we want her to be. Every time she says what she wants to be you shoot her down.”

“This is all my fault?” Steve said, his voice cracking.

“Oh shit no.” Bucky leaned down and brought his lips to Steve’s. “There’s a good reason why she shouldn’t be an Avenger yet. Maybe we just need to find a way that she feels like we’ve heard her and that it will happen?”

Steve sighed. “I miss her mom.”

“So do I. Every day.” Bucky agreed. “What do you think Loki meant about Sarah not being human? Daisy was human right?”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t know. I always assumed she was. There was nothing in the Hydra files about her parents except that her mother surrendered her to them when her powers manifested. With all these Inhumans around, maybe there was more to her as well?”

“So many things you never expect to need to know when you become a parent, huh?” Bucky mused.

Steve laughed. “You’re telling me, pal.”

Bucky’s fingers absentmindedly trailed through Steve’s hair and down his back. “Remember how she used to always climb into bed with us in the middle of the night?”

“She’d splay herself out like a starfish. How a three-year-old can take up more room in a bed than a full grown adult man I’ll never know.” Steve laughed.

“I used to like when she’d decorate my arm with stickers. She’d spend hours doing that. Making little scenes with My Little Pony and Ninja Turtles. Then I’d have to go on mission like that.”

“Remember that time they all glowed in the dark?” Steve added.

Bucky started laughing. “Nat wasn’t happy. How I was just this glowing target out on mission.”

“No, she was not.” Steve agreed.

Bucky kissed the top of Steve’s head. “Did you ever think about having more?”

Steve shrugged. “When Daisy was pregnant with Sarah and we were all together. I sometimes wondered how big our family might get.”

“Yeah.” Bucky sighed, rolling onto his side.

Steve kissed him, just briefly letting his lips graze over Bucky’s. “You gotta stop beating yourself up over what happened. She was stubborn and she loved you. It wasn’t your fault.”

“If I just …”

“No ifs. No buts. It wasn’t your fault. It’s just something that happened. We have each other and we have the kids.”

“I just wish…”

Steve tightened his arms around Bucky. “Don’t we all.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sarah crawled out of bed and debated what her next move should be. Her dads would be waiting in the kitchen to lecture her. She could already feel them getting impatient with her. So the choices were, pretend to keep sleeping, have a shower so she didn’t quite feel so seedy, or just go out and face the music.

She pulled the comforter over her head. Groaned loudly and climbed out of bed. She wandered into the kitchen. Steve was sitting at the kitchen table with coffee. Bucky was cooking eggs and bacon at the stove.

“Hey, kiddo. You hungry?” Bucky greeted, turning briefly to Sarah.

“I guess so,” Sarah answered. “I can hear you, you know?”

“You wanna just get this over with?” Bucky asked.

Sarah nodded and sat down next to Steve.

Steve leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers. “You want to tell us what happened last night?”

“After you dropped us off, Olive got really scared of me.” Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose. “She likes me, you know? Like not as friends. And she was sure I’d been reading her mind. Which I have, but I don’t mean to. I don’t ever mean to.”

“I know that honey. It was hard for your mom too.” Steve said.

“We went and got food and we were eating it and these guys offered us whiskey. The other two drank it, but I just wanted the boys to leave us alone. So I just drank it all. I thought it would scare them off. I should have just used my powers, made them go away, but Olive was already so scared of me. People are much more scared of my mind things than how strong I am.” Olive ran her hands through her hair. “It didn’t work. They just bought beer and they kept giving us beer. And then they gave them something. E maybe? I don’t know. I didn’t want to be all mom on them. But then I kind of got jealous. I wanted to just be like them. I could take all the drugs they had and it wouldn’t do anything. But I could see in their head. They were liking it. They were having fun.”

“That’s no way of having fun, Sarah. It’s dangerous and stupid.” Steve said.

Sarah stopped talking and just stared at Steve. Bucky came over and put a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of her. He squeezed her shoulder. “Keep going.”

“Loki showed up and offered me something and I took it. Then I heard the boys thinking about how they were going to take Olive and McKenna and …” She stopped again.

“And what?” Bucky pressed.

Sarah conjured up the thoughts the boys had of what they’d wanted to do to Olive and McKenna and pushed them into Steve and Bucky’s head. “I punched one of them and then I grabbed Olive and McKenna and then I called you.”

Steve put his hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “I’m really proud of you for doing that.” He said.

She shook her head. “It shouldn’t have got that far. If I’d just …”

“Don’t beat yourself up, honey. You protected your friends. That’s all that matters now.” Bucky said.

“Sarah,” Steve said putting his hand on his daughter’s. “Has Loki been …” He stopped not really knowing out to phrase this in a way that didn’t make him feel as old as every year that had passed since the day of his birth.

He needn’t have worried, Sarah knew. She always knew. “Yes. But I’m not an idiot. Also, I think he’s just trying to mess with you through me. I don’t think he actually wants to do anything.”

“How does that make you feel?” Steve asked.

Sarah shrugged. “I dunno. Like it’s creepy. It’s really creepy. And he’s a guy and well …” She looked at her hands as she twisted her fingers together.

“You don’t like boys,” Bucky said.

“Yeah. But then he can change. And he said he’d change for me. And that I could be a queen. I think if I said yes, he’d just do something that would hurt me and you. Like he doesn’t mean any of it. He’s just trying to get to you. But sometimes, I just wanna say yes anyway.”

“Is that why you took what he gave you?” Steve asked.

“No. I took it because I hate feeling like a freak. Loki said he understood feeling like he didn’t belong. I trusted that.” Sarah said.

“Did you want us to take you out of school?” Steve asked.

Sarah nodded.

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” Steve said.

Sarah sighed and tapped her head. “You want me to be normal. You thought making me go to school made me normal.”

“We want you to be happy and to have balance in your life,” Steve said.

“Noooo… no, you don’t. Dad, I can hear you. Normal. That’s what you think. She needs to have a normal life.”

Steve stood and wrapped his arms around his daughter. “I am so sorry I made you feel that way. I just - I want you to be happy. I thought giving you a life with regular everyday people, away from this… I thought it would make you happy.”

“It hurts. All the time. They’re in my head all the time. I don’t know if I’m learning because I hear all the answers. I hear all the horrible things people think. About themselves. About each other. About me. It makes me hate them all, dad. I don’t want to hate everyone.”

“We’ll take you out of school. You still need to study though.” Steve said.

“I know. I learn better with Vision anyway. I can’t hear him and he explains things in a way I understand.” Sarah said.

Steve let her go and sat back down. “Now, and I can’t believe we have to have this conversation again. But we need to talk about you taking things from Loki of all people.”

“Captain Rogers, Peter Parker has just arrived at the facility. He’s saying he needs to see you.” The voice of FRIDAY said filling the room.

“Thank you FRIDAY. Tell him I’ll meet him in the office.” Steve replied. “We’ll have to continue this later.”

Sarah nodded. Steve patted her on the shoulder and headed to his office.

Peter and Mary Jane were already waiting for him when he stepped through the door.

Before Steve was even able to open his mouth, Peter started talking. “Someone’s taken May Day.”

“Not another one,” Steve said, sitting behind his desk.

“Whaddya mean not another one?” Peter asked.

Steve explained about Danielle Cage and the kidnapping that appeared to be by Hydra. When he got to the part about the mind wiping Peter looked at Mary Jane concern etched on his features.

“That must have been what happened, MJ.” He said. Mary Jane’s face fell and she rubbed her eyes.

“What happened?” Steve asked.

Peter looked at Steve gravely. “The two of them went out together. MJ came home alone and had completely forgotten that May Day was with her. I went out and searched for her and we came straight here.”

“FRIDAY, can you send Vision, Carol, and Sarah in please?”

“Of course Captain Rogers.”

Vision was first to arrive, floating in through the wall. Steve was briefing him on the situation when Carol and Sarah showed up.

“Carol, I need you to go to New York with Peter and Vision. They’ll fill you in on the way. Ms. Parker, Sarah will undo what the people who attacked you have done. We’ll take you back to New York when she’s finished. I think time is of the essence here though.”

Carol and Vision led Peter away and Steve turned to his daughter. “There’s been another kidnapping.”

Sarah’s hands flew to her face. “Not May Day?”

“I’m afraid so. Ms. Parker was with her but whoever took May Day wiped her memory. Can you undo it?”

Sarah crouched down in front of Mary Jane and hugged her. MJ hugged back and started to cry.  It was like this acknowledgment from this girl who she’d seen grow up had made her realize what she might actually be losing.

Sarah pulled back and put her hands on the sides of Mary Jane’s face. She looked into her eyes, and then through them. Scouring her mind for the blocks that had been put in place. When she found them, she picked them out one by one. As she did Mary Jane started sobbing. A heart wrenching, deep down painful sobbing as her memories overwhelmed her.

When Sarah finished she wrapped her arms around Mary Jane and held the woman as her grief came out. Steve got up and put his hand on her shoulder. “Do you remember what happened.”

Mary Jane nodded. “They had black vans and they came out of nowhere. May Day fought but even with the enhancements there were just too many. She’s so young.” She broke down again, clinging to Sarah.

“I’ll take you home,” Steve said. “Sarah go find dad and tell him to watch you. You’re going to have to scan for her. Can you do that?”

Sarah nodded and got up. “I know May Day way better than I knew Danielle. I’m sure I can find her.”

“Good girl. Thank you.”

Sarah rushed off to find Bucky. He was washing dishes and singing Shake it Out to himself.

“Dad said you need to watch me while I people scan.” She said.

Bucky turned and shook his hands off. “What’s going on?” He asked.

Sarah filled him in and as she did his eyes darkened.

“Two super-powered kids…” He said.

“You think they’re gonna use them as a weapon like you and mom?” Sarah said.

“Oh, I know they will. So we better find them fast.” Bucky said putting his hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

“You think they’ll come for me,” Sarah said.

“We won’t let them,” Bucky growled. Sarah could see it clearly as if he’d said it out loud though. He didn’t think they could protect her at all.

She didn’t know what she could say to soothe him though. His biggest fear had always been Hydra taking him again. Now the thought that it could happen to his kids had blacked out every other fear he’d had. Nothing seemed as scary to him as having his kids go through what he’d been through. About the possibility he could ever have to fight them. To have them have to battle with the reprogramming he’d lived with. The reprogramming that ended up being the cause of their mother’s death.

“I’ll be okay, dad,” Sarah said, squeezing his hand.

“I know,” Bucky said. Now if only he could believe it.


	7. Chapter 7

No sign of May Day had been found by the party sent to search the city. Once again just witnesses with their minds wiped of memories of the young girl being drugged and taken.

Sarah had spent a full nine hours searching for May Day. Scanning and rescanning people over and over. In the end, she had come too dehydrated and distraught. Bucky had held her as she cried. It had been a long time since he’d seen his daughter this vulnerable. She had always done a pretty good job of acting fine. More than fine. She never liked to show weakness because being weak might mean not being an Avenger.

Bucky and Steve pulled Sarah from school and a warning was put out that parents of enhanced children to stay alert. As much as Sarah had wanted to not go to school anymore she now felt lost. She spent lessons with Vision and her free time wandering the halls. The fact she was unable to find May Day Parker had made her feel weak and like a failure. Unworthy of being an Avenger. If she wasn’t worthy of being an Avenger there was no point in training. She lost all direction and purpose.

As hard as Bucky and Steve tried to convince her she hadn’t failed anyone. They couldn’t get through to her. Bucky felt helpless. He was used to raising two kids who thought they were invincible and capable of anything. He didn’t know what to do with one who suddenly felt broken.

So it was a week later. The anniversary of the death of Daisy. That Bucky headed to her memorial to talk to her.

After the Infinity Wars and all conflict between old friends had been put aside and Steve and Bucky had been welcomed into the Avengers they had planted a Weeping Cherry Tree, surrounding it with flowers. They had scattered her ashes over the ground. The only time of the year nothing bloomed was winter when snow covered the ground and blanketed everything. Right now the daffodils were starting to die off and tulips were taking their place. The tree was in full blossom. Pink petals scattered in the breeze when the wind picked up. In summer the ground would be smothered in Daisies.

Bucky sat down under the tree and leaned his head back on the trunk. “I miss you, Daisy.” He sighed. “I feel like I’m running around blind at the moment. You always knew exactly what the kids needed, even before they had the words to tell you.”

He ran his hands through his hair and closed his eyes. “I could really use that right now. I don’t know how to convince her she’s doing fine. That this isn’t her fault. But I’m scared. If HYDRA is taking kids and we can’t stop them… If they come for her…” He shook his head. “The thought of her going through what we went through. How can I live with that?”

He wiped his eyes. He wasn’t crying but it felt like it might happen. The torture he’d lived through. The torture Daisy had also lived through. The fact two kids he knew were either dead or experiencing the same thing. The mere concept that one of his own kids could potentially be a target for the same thing was a little too much for him. It brought all the things he thought he’d moved on from flooding back.

He pulled his legs up, hugging them against his chest and pressed his face against his knees. The sounds of footsteps disturbed him and he looked up to see Steve coming up the little rock path through the flowers.

“Were you looking for me?” Bucky asked.

Steve shook his head and sat down next to Bucky. “No. I was looking for her.” Steve said, gesturing to the garden. “I think Jamie and Sarah will be out soon.”

Bucky sighed and leaned his head against Steve’s shoulders. “What are we gonna do about Sarah? She’s so lost.”

“Just let her know we’re here for her,” Steve answered. He leaned down and kissed Bucky on the crown of the head.

“I feel like Daisy would know. She always knew what we wanted before we did. And she was so connected to the kids.”

“Well, she did have an advantage we don’t. We can do this though, Buck. We got this far.”

* * *

Sarah and Jamie walked down the lawn together towards where Steve and Bucky sat.

“I hate this so much.” Sarah sighed as they caught sight of Bucky and Steve sitting under the Cherry Tree.

“I know you didn’t know her. I don’t really remember her myself. Just memories of memories. But it’s important to them.” Jamie said.

“I know. It’s just…” She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. “Did she not love me? Is that why she did it? Was I too much so she decided it was better him than her.”

“Don’t be stupid, Sarah.” Jamie scolded.

“Fuck you.” Sarah snapped.

“No. Fuck you. This isn’t about you. It’s about them. You know exactly how badly dad deals with this time of year. Stop being selfish.” Jamie shot back.

Sarah spun on her heels. “Fine.” She yelled. “I guess I can’t feel bad about my mom dying. Go deal with it with him.”

“Sarah. Get back here and stop being a fucking baby!” Jamie yelled.

Sarah flipped him off as she stormed towards the compound. She headed straight to her car and drove. She didn’t even know where. She just knew she was furious, hurt and scared and she needed to be away from the people who reminded her of it.

She pulled the Bugatti up to a deserted lookout. You could see forest for miles and the Avengers compound cut into the landscape. She closed her eyes and sent her mind out again. She had been doing it sporadically since May Day went missing. The need to find the little girl who she’d known since birth consumed her.

Just as she sent it out it touched on someone nearby and she startled back to herself. The mind was clouded and dangerous. She turned to look around and feeling for people. There were lots. At least twenty. Just as she went to shut them down, to give herself a chance to work the situation out something hit her in the neck.

Her vision became cloudy and she tried to push her mind out, stop whoever was attacking her. Something else hit her. Everything spun and went black.

* * *

“What happened to Sarah?” Steve asked as Jamie approached them.

Jamie groaned and flopped down on the ground. “She’s being a baby. Just leave her.”

“James.” Steve scolded.

“Ugh. She was all ‘do you think mom hated me? Is that why she did what she did?’ I told her to stop being an idiot. She lost it and ran off.”

Steve started to get up and Bucky took his hand and shook his head. “She’s gonna need some space. I know what those particular feelings are like.”

“She doesn’t even really think like that. She’s just pissed that this isn’t about her.” Jamie scoffed.

“Jamie. She’s struggling with what having her powers mean and the fact they have limitations. You need to be patient with her.” Steve said.

“She’s a selfish bitch.” Jamie snapped.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Steve snapped. “We’re here to remember your mom.”

Jamie went to argue again but Bucky shook his head. “Just drop it.”

They sat in silence for a while, Bucky just holding Steve’s hand. After a little while, they started talking. Bucky talked about how Daisy had helped him take control from the Soldier. How for a long time he thought he’d dreamed her.

Steve talked about how she used to talk to Jamie mind to mind and how Jamie didn’t speak for years. How she hated training yet she was always so determined to fight.

They were all stories Jamie had heard before. His take home was always how much she loved them all. How much she’d wanted them to be a family. Even though it was the same every year he was thankful for it.

They all headed inside to eat. Bucky busied himself in the kitchen while Steve and Jamie sat at the breakfast bar and watched.

“I wonder if I should go out and find your sister,” Steve said, glancing at the clock.

“She’s not far,” Jamie answered. “Just driving around sulking still.”

Steve frowned. “I guess we can just wait until she’s ready.”

Bucky served up some sandwiches with soup and as they ate Jamie suddenly stopped. He grabbed his forehead.

“Something’s wrong.” He said, staggering to his feet.

“What is it?” Bucky asked, getting up and supporting his son.

“It’s Sarah. I - I can’t feel her.”


	8. Chapter 8

Sarah woke groggy, with her head pounding. It took a minute for her eyes to focus and for the confusion of what happened to clear. When it did she was first aware of how quiet her mind was. It had never been so clear before. It scared her and made her feel so alone that it hurt. She started to cry without even knowing what she was crying about.

She then became aware there was the sound of someone else crying nearby. She sat up and the room span. When everything finally steadied she looked around her. She was in a cell. It was modern and white. The bed wasn’t so much a bed as a white metallic bench. There was also a toilet. Three of the walls were solid white, no window just a small vent on the top of the back wall. The front of the cell was made of white bars.

Sarah staggered towards them and tried to used her strength to pull it open.

“Don’t bother.” A voice from the cell opposite. A young girl of around twelve stepped forward. She wore simple white cotton pants and a matching singlet. Her curly black hair hadn’t been brushed in weeks and it made her look wild.

“Danielle?” Sarah said.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Danielle replied.

“I thought you were dead.”

“Shit. So they’re not even looking for us?” Danielle snarled. Whoever it was that was crying started crying louder. “Shut up, May Day.”

“May Day?” Sarah called out, peering down the side of the bars as best she could. She couldn’t see much but there were other cells in the hall. At least five on each side of a hall.

“Sarah?” May Day called back. “I want my Mommy.”

“I know. We’ll get back. I promise.” Sarah said.

Danielle let out a sarcastic laugh. “How do you think that’s going to happen? Haven’t you noticed? They turned off our powers. If everyone thinks we’re dead, who’s coming for us?”

“They turned off our abilities?” Sarah asked confused. “How? Who did?”

Danielle shuddered. “They put something in our necks. I was awake the whole time because of what I am. They shot me and I didn’t think they could do that. It hurt so much. Then they cut me open while I was still hurting from the bullet. When they put the thing in my neck, my powers just shut off and they knocked me out. When I woke up the bullet was gone.”

“Who are they, Dani?” Sarah asked.

“How am I supposed to know?” Danielle shouted. “There’s so many of them. They keep telling us they’re going to hurt us more if we don’t do what they say. They make us watch these videos and they do all these tests on us. Is this our life now?”

“We’re going to get out, Danielle. I promise. My dads run the Avengers. You think they will give up looking for me? Even if they can’t find us, we’re far from helpless. I can fight even without my powers.” Sarah said.

Danielle started laughing and Sarah could hear May Day’s sobbing pick up in the cell next to her.

The door opened at the end of the hall and four men marched to Sarah’s cell.

“Step back from the bars.” One of the men barked.

Sarah took a step backward and clenched her fists. The men slid the door open, one pulled out handcuffs and went to grab Sarah’s wrist. Her training went into action. She flipped him over her head and kicked him in the throat. Two of the other men came for her one hit her with a taser and while she tried to shake it off he shoved her face first into the wall.

“Oh, you gotta little fight in you, princess.” He growled into her ear. His hand slid up her side and squeezed her breast. “I’m going to like taking that from you.”

Sarah lashed out, hitting him in the chest. As he staggered back she kneed him in the groin. He dropped to the ground and she kicked him. “Touch me again, asshole.” She screamed.

The butt of a rifle struck her on the back of the head. Everything went black.

* * *

The Avengers briefing room was buzzing. Steve sat at the head of the table rubbing his eyes.  Carol, Tony, Peter, Bruce, Wanda, Sam, Jessica, and Luke all sat around it arguing with each other, while Bucky and Jamie paced up and down the room.

“If someone says we look at the known Hydra bases one more time I’m going to lose my shit.” Sam snapped. “There are no known Hydra bases. We thought we’d wiped them out already.”

“A fully operational Hyrda base would be using a lot of energy,” Bruce said. “If we were to use the satellites to find any anomalous energy hotspots around the globe?”

“FRIDAY?” Tony barked.

“Right away, Mr. Stark.” The building’s AI responded.

“What if she’s already dead? I can’t feel her anymore. I’m really scared.” Jamie said, rubbing his temple. Ever since he lost contact with Sarah he’d felt like a part of him was missing. It made him feel sick and he’d been fighting off low-level nausea ever since.

Bucky put his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “We’re not going to give up looking for her either way.”

Steve looked over at Bucky. “Buck, when you were in Hydra, how did they control Daisy?”

Bucky collapsed down into one of the chairs and ran his hands through his hair. “I wasn’t even awake for most of that, Steve. I’m not sure I can help.”

“Whatever you can remember. Anything at this stage could help.” Steve said.

“Well, I think a lot of it was she was worried about me. I know she kind of did what she wanted a lot. I don’t think she was in complete control of her powers back then and you know she wasn’t ever as powerful as Sarah is anyway.”

“Well, that was helpful.” Jessica scoffed.

“I told you I couldn’t remember much.” Bucky spat back.

“Buck, is there anything else?” Steve asked.

Bucky closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The memory of waking up in her room and how thick the door was. How Daisy had said she was a prisoner too, but she wasn’t strong. So why was the door so thick? “I think they must have kept her in a room that was lined in something that damped her powers. The door to her room was so thick. I couldn’t break it open. Why would it be so thick for a girl who wasn’t even particularly strong.”

“FRIDAY, narrow your search to structures with unusually thick walls at least somewhere within them,” Steve said.

“Right away, Captain Rogers.”

* * *

Sarah came to sitting upright. Her head was pounding again and when she went to move she realized her hands were locked down to the arm of the chair she was sitting in. She opened her eyes and tried to struggle free from her bonds.

“Hello, Sarah.” A warm female voice said from behind her. She craned her head around to see who was talking. A beautiful woman with pale skin and black hair walked around the front of a desk and sat down opposite her. She wore a green body suit that hugged her figure. “I’m sorry for the way that Agent manhandled you. He is being reprimanded. You won’t see him again.”

“Who are you?” Sarah asked.

“My name is Viper. Have you heard of me?” Viper answered.

Sarah shook her head. “Where am I?”

“Why my dear, you’re with Hydra. You know your mother grew up with us, don’t you? I met her a few times. She was very powerful. You are stronger am I correct?” She spoke like she was bored and had an accent that Sarah couldn’t quite place. Like she’d never spent long enough in one country for an accent to take hold.

“You’re going to regret taking me.” Sarah seethed. “I’m going to kill you personally.”

Viper laughed. Sarcasm dripped from the sound. “Oh, darling. What do you think you’re going to do? I turned off your abilities.”

“You think that’s going to matter? Even if my fathers never find me. And you know they will. You think I need my powers? I am going to tear your throat out with my teeth.” Sarah spat.

Viper laughed again. This time it sounded genuine. “So full of fire, young Sarah. You remind me of me. I don’t want to take it from you, but don’t think I won’t.” Viper pressed a button on a console in front of her and electricity surged through Sarah. Her jaw clenched, her teeth narrowly missing her tongue. There was so much pain, she wondered for a moment if this was how she died.

It stopped quickly and Sarah sat panting in front. “What do you want from me?”

“Just your compliance. I know it won’t come quickly. Don’t worry about that. It will come though. As it will with all your little friends.” Viper replied. “You aren’t going to be found here. You can’t escape. You will break.” Viper hit a button in front of her. A group of guards filed in. “Get her out of here.” She barked at them.

Sarah struggled with them as they wrestled her into cuffs.

“Get some rest, Sarah. Your re-education starts tomorrow.”


	9. Chapter 9

The satellite scans had found three potential locations that could be used to hold Sarah and have her mind completely hidden from Jamie. One was in the United States, in the middle of Arizona. One was in a remote part of Nunavut, Canada. The final one was in Siberia not far from where the Winter Soldier program had started.

Hearing that made Bucky’s skin crawl and a pit form in his stomach. Somehow he knew. He knew right away that’s where she was. He tried to convince Steve that’s where she was but Steve was sure it would be one of the closer places given how quickly Hydra had been grabbing the children.

They went to investigate the Arizona location first. The group consisted of Steve, Bucky, Jamie, Carol, and Wanda. It was definitely a Hydra base. Jamie knew right away it wasn’t  _the_  Hydra base. It was sparsely defended and none of the agents had even passing thoughts about the kidnapped children.

The base was taken quickly. Jamie didn’t even have to Nock an Arrow. Clint had taught him archery and he liked to be the Hawkeye of the group when he could even though he had the strength of his father and could use his mind to incapacitate everyone anyway.

It wasted two days. Bucky started fraying around the edges. He wasn’t sleeping. When he slept he had nightmares. They’d start with him being tortured. Being strapped into a chair while they electroshocked him and experimented on him. While they broke the man he was down and destroyed him and built up a new man in the shell that he’d left for them.

Then they changed. It was Sarah, not him. She called out for them. Begged to be saved. Bucky would sit helplessly watching them break his daughter apart. Then she’d get out of the chair her hair hanging over her face. Raise a gun and shoot him.

Steve tried to reassure him. Nothing he said seemed to help. Bucky paced the halls and considered just leaving on his own to check Siberia. He didn’t know how to fly the Quinjet but he was sure he could convince Natasha to go with him. He was just about to go and call her when the idea hit him and he cursed himself for not thinking about it sooner.

“Loki!” He yelled. “Loki! Get here now!”

There was a shimmer in the air. “What is it now, Barnes? I swear I haven’t been anywhere near your daughter.”

Bucky’s hands tightened into fists. “Do you know where she is?” He growled.

“Did she run away?” Loki laughed. “Oh, Barnes. Can’t even keep tabs on your own blood. Oh but she isn’t your blood is she? How could I forget.”

Bucky snapped. He grabbed Loki by the throat with his cybernetic hand and slammed him against the wall. “Don’t fuck with me, Loki.” He seethed. “I don’t like bringing out the Soldier. But doesn’t mean I can’t do it. Do you know where she is?”

“Of course I do.” Loki scoffed.

Bucky relaxed letting Loki slip from his grip. Loki rubbed his throat where Bucky’s fingers had been. “She’s alive?”

“Yes, she’s alive.”

Hope and relief flooded through Bucky. He started pacing again. “Can you take me to her?”

“That’s not how it works,” Loki said. “What’s happened, Barnes?”

Bucky told Loki everything that had been happening. He spoke quickly but left out no detail.

Loki ran his thumb over his bottom lip. “You must really be desperate to come to me.”

“I am. Tell me where she is.” Bucky yelled.

Loki chuckled and conjured a globe of the Earth. He pointed to a spot in Siberia and Bucky cursed. “How quickly can you get there?” Loki asked.

“It would take four or five hours if I left right now. But I have to convince someone to fly the jet.”  Bucky said.

“Do that. I’ll go to her.” Loki said. Before Bucky had a chance to thank him, he’d disappeared.

* * *

Sarah lay on the bench that acted as her bed, curled into a ball and facing the wall. She hadn’t opened her eyes yet, but she’d been awake for hours. Feigning sleep. Waiting for them to come reeducate her.

She had already been through one round of re-education. They had strapped her into a chair. The same one she saw in her dad’s mind all the time. They had put a mouthguard in her mouth and electroshocked her. They then proceeded to continue shocking her between lengthy lectures of how Hydra was the right path. That freedom was a lie. That individuality was a flaw that needed eradicating.

All the while Viper sat watching. She never spoke, but anytime Sarah was able to she would ask Viper how she wanted to die. She would list the ways she was considering killing her. Viper just smiled and watched.

After about four hours they then returned her to her cell and took Danielle.

She had water but they hadn’t fed her since she’d gotten there. Her stomach hurt and she felt light headed. It was time to act.

Two guards stepped into her room. She kept her breathing deep and calm. Not reacting to the presence in her room.

“Wake up, girl.” A deep, gravelly voice said. A hand was placed on her shoulder and Sarah reacted. She grabbed the arm and slammed the person into the wall above her. With their now unconscious form acting as a shield from the others, she scrambled to free their taser from their belt.

Another form came upon her. She reacted quickly using the taser. She held it against them, holding down the trigger as the form jerked wildly above her. When she released the trigger. She quickly assessed the room. There were two unconscious guards, one male one female. Another male stood at the door. He had his taser out and he’d just gotten his walkie-talkie off his belt. Sarah charged at him. At the last second, she did a roundhouse kick, knocking the walkie-talkie from his hand.

He lunged at her and she grabbed his arm spinning him and slamming his head into the bars of the cell. Grabbing him by the neck she slammed him into the bars again and again.

“Sarah, you’re gonna kill him.” Danielle screeched.

Sarah let him go and started frisking the guards for their weapons and keys. She found two more tasers and two knives as well as the keycards to open the doors and cells of the building. Sarah first went and opened the cells of the other children. Besides Danielle and May Day there was a boy who looked to be around eight years old and didn’t speak any English and a fourteen-year-old girl named Senka.

“What’s your plan?” Senka asked.

“If you cut the thing out of my neck, my powers should kick in. I heal fast. Hopefully faster than it will kill me. But even if it does kill me I can take out everyone in here and you can all get to safety.” Sarah said.

“No, Sarah.” May Day cried. The little redhead hadn’t let go of her since Sarah had opened her cell.

“Do it to me,” Danielle said. “I heal immediately.”

“You sure?” Sarah asked. Danielle nodded.

Sarah moved behind Danielle and ran her fingers over her neck feeling for the little scar where they’d inserted whatever it was that they’d put in them to negate their powers.

“Well, this looks entertaining.”

Sarah looked up at the sound of the cold, familiar voice. Loki leaned against the bars of the cell watching them.

“Loki.” Sarah yelped and ran to him, wrapping her arms around him. May Day followed, relief of seeing a familiar adult taking hold of her. She hugged his leg. Loki hugged Sarah and patted May Day on the back at the two girls both broke into tears.

“What did they do to you?” Loki asked.

“They put something in our necks. It’s shut our powers off.” Sarah said, trying to get control of herself. “We have to hurry, Loki. They’ll be sending more people.”

“Don’t worry, my love. The idiots who work here all think everything is normal for now.” Loki soothed. “Let’s see if I can’t undo what they’ve done.”

Loki turned Sarah to face away from him. His long fingers caressed the skin of her neck. He pulled his knife from its scabbard. “This will hurt, but just for a moment.” He said, softly.

The knife bit into her skin and he pressed down. Sarah clenched her teeth, unwilling to show any weakness. Loki gently worked a small chip from her neck and when it was clear he froze the wound, using his powers to seal it. Sarah’s abilities kicked in immediately.

“I still can’t feel the people outside of here,” Sarah said, frowning.

“This place was designed to hold your mother, darling. It is meant to keep them safe from your mind.” Loki said. “There are however four more of you with abilities. We can fight our way out of here.”

Sarah surveyed the scared faces of the children whose lives were now in their hands. “Let Loki cut those chips out. It only hurts a little. You don’t have to fight, but with your powers, you can defend yourselves.” She said.

* * *

Steve sat in the back of the Quinjet next to Bucky. Their fingers were linked together. “You’re sure about this, Buck?” Steve asked for what felt like the 600th time.

“Loki has some kind of connection to her. Why do you think he’s always showing up when we’re not around?” Bucky said. “Whether we like it or not, that’s the truth. He says she’s in Siberia. I believe him.”

Jamie looked up at his dad’s again. Fiddled with one of his arrows and looked away. He kept wanting to ask Bucky if he was sure. Deep down, Jamie couldn’t shake the feeling that Sarah was dead.

Carol landed the jet on an icy plane out of sight of the base. The group that consisted of Steve, Bucky, Jamie, Carol, Vision, and Wanda all climbed off the jet.

“Captain, I’ll fly ahead with Vision. See if we can’t find a way in. Meet you when you get there, slowpokes.” Carol said, taking to the air.

“Right you are, major,” Steve said. He turned to the others as Carol and Vision flew towards the base. “Jamie, stick with your dad. Wanda, you’re with me. We’ll go out wide try and come in on the other side. You stick to this side, Buck.”

Bucky nodded and they move forward. When they made it to the compound there were a dozen Hydra agents already lying on the ground. Five children were gathered around Carol. Bucky recognized Danielle and May Day but not the others. One looked like they were made of blue flames. Sarah was nowhere to be seen. Buck and Jamie jogged over to Carol.

“Did you do this?” He asked.

Carol laughed. “We got here and we were just about to see how we might go about getting in when all these agents just dropped to the ground. They’re all alive. Just unconscious. Then the kids ran out.”

“Sarah,” Jamie said. Relief filled him. He just wished he could feel her again.

“Vision get the door open,” Bucky said. “We’re going to find my daughter.”

“What about, dad?” Jamie asked as Vision floated through the door. The circuits popped and it slid open.

“She’s already been here too long. I’m going to get her.”


	10. Chapter 10

Sarah and Loki stood outside the office door where Viper had locked herself after Hydra agents started dropping like flies. Sarah took the door handle in her hand and just as she went to twist it open Loki put his hand on hers.

“You don’t have to do this. This burden doesn’t not have to lie at your feet.” He said.

There was gunfire from inside, narrowly missing both Sarah and Loki. Sarah twisted the handle, shattering the lock and pushed the door open. “Yes, it does.” She snarled.

Viper raised her gun but Sarah stopped her gross motor functions. All Viper was able to do was stare straight ahead.

“Hello, Viper,” Sarah said, walking towards the woman. “How would you like me to kill you today? I could be kind. Let you use that cyanide pill you have stuck in your back tooth that you keep thinking about. Or I could just switch your brain off. That would be pretty painless. I did promise to tear your throat out with my teeth though. I don’t like breaking my promises.” She ran her fingers down Viper’s neck.

“I’m not scared of death, you foolish child.” Viper seethed.

“No, I can see that. I can see exactly what you’re scared of. Seeing as you love torturing little kids, maybe I’ll just trap you with that.” Sarah snapped. She closed her eyes and pushed. Viper fell to the ground trapped in a nightmare she couldn’t escape. She whimpered as she lay on the ground. Her body twitching.

“Sarah, stop this.” Loki soothed. “Let her go. Your fathers can arrest her.”

“Why should I?” Sarah yelled. “Do you know what she did to me? To the others? What she was was going to do to us?”

Loki ran his hand up and down Sarah’s arm. “I know. Trust me, I know better than anyone what it’s like to be consumed by the thoughts of vengeance.”

“You’re lecturing me?” Sarah snapped. She walked to where Viper lay whimpering on the ground and dragged her to her feet. Her fingernails bit into the skin on vipers throat. “You killed thousands of people. You were going to destroy Earth and you’re worried about her life?”

“I don’t care about her. She could die a thousand times over and I wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow.” Loki said, slowly approaching Sarah. “What I care about is you. Doing this. Killing a person in cold blood. It will change you.”

“Maybe I want to change. Maybe if I change people will start taking me seriously.”

“Sarah?”

The sound of Bucky’s voice made Sarah’s head snap around. “Daddy?”

“Let her go, honey.” Bucky soothed. “Let me take care of this.”

Sarah dropped Viper and ran to Bucky falling into his arms. Bucky held her tightly putting his chin on the top of her head.

Sarah’s mental hold on Viper released and she came to, stumbling to her feet. She lurched forward in an attempt to run but Loki caught her, sliding his blade effortlessly between her ribs. She screeched as Loki removed the blade and wiped it clean on her back. He let her go and she slithered to the ground.

“Loki! I said I’d take care of it.” Bucky snapped.

“And now you don’t have to. No need to thank me, soldier.” Loki said, waving his hand.

Jamie and Bucky supported Sarah as they left the facility. When they reached the exit, an icy blast of air hit them in the face. Sarah shivered. She was still only wearing the light white cotton Hydra dressed her in.

Steve spotted them and ran over embracing his daughter. “Oh god, Sare. I was so scared.” He breathed.

“So was I,” Sarah replied, breaking down in tears.

The Avengers got all the missing children situated on the jet and notified the authorities to the Hydra base and the incident that had occurred.

Bucky and Steve pulled Loki aside on the Quinjet.

“What happened in the base?” Steve asked.

“I found the children together. Sarah had already taken out three guards and opened their cells. Those  _people_  that had them had inserted something into their necks. Some kind of Midgardian technology to negated their gifts. Sarah was about to cut it out of that one there.” He pointed to Danielle.

“Oh god.” Bucky groaned.

“Then what happened?” Steve pressed.

“I removed the devices from each of the children. We fought our way out.” Loki explained. “I say we. It was mostly Sarah. That small blue child can phase into things and disrupt technology. He is the reason we were easily able to break through the doors. But Sarah just made everyone we came across fall asleep. It was quite boring in the end.”

“What about the dead woman?” Steve asked.

“That was me. I’d apologize but I am not sorry for that. She was in charge. She tortured those children. I wouldn’t normally concern myself with such petty trivialities, but I have grown fond of you mortals. Particularly your family.” Loki said.

Steve scowled but chose not to press it. Instead, he moved back to check on the children.

“I heard what you said to Sarah,” Bucky said when Steve was out of earshot. “I just – I wanted – Thank you. You’re right. It would have changed her. Killing. It puts a stain on you that is impossible to erase.”

“Why Barnes, are you getting all emotional on me?” Loki laughed. “The next thing I know I’ll be invited on the next Rogers’ family picnic.”

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Bucky said. “Just thank you. And thank you for finding her.”


	11. Epilogue

“Alright, Sare. I think that’s it.” Olive said, securing the last clasp on Sarah’s uniform.

A year had passed and a lot had changed.

Sarah was now homeschooled. Primarily taught by Vision. Her grades had evened out and she found that without all the noise she could actually learn. She wasn’t just leaching off what other people were thinking.

With Sarah away from school Olive had started to realize that her feelings for Sarah were real. She wasn’t confused. She didn’t just not like boys because the ones around her were all terrible. She liked girls and specifically, she liked Sarah. Her powers didn’t matter. Sarah had never given Olive a reason not to trust her. Sarah’s powers were scary but she’d never used them to hurt her. So Olive had called Sarah and said she’d missed her. They had started hanging out outside of school and had now been dating nine months.

The Avengers had started a program to help train enhanced children with their abilities. So they could both control them, but they could protect themselves if people came after them. It was called the Young Avengers Initiative and for the most part, just acted as a weekend or summer holiday style program. Depending on how far the children had to travel. For extreme cases, the children moved into the compound and were looked after like family. They also studied with Vision and were trained by ex Avengers such as Clint, Natasha, and Tony.

Today was the day the first graduate moved up to the rank of official, the government recognized Avenger.

Sarah had her uniform. She had her code name. Now she had to just show everyone what she could do.

“Thanks, Olive. Oh god. I’m so nervous.” Sarah said.

Olive smoothed her hands down the red, blue and white stripes of that ran down Sarah’s midriff. She leaned over and gently grazed her lips over Sarah’s. “You’re gonna do fine. You were born for this.”

Sarah and Olive walked down the hall and stepped outside into the sun. The training grounds looked like a crowd had assembled for a kids soccer game. Children and adults lined a rectangular pitched and all talked and played while they waited for the proceedings to start.

Olive kissed Sarah on the cheek and veered away from her, heading in the direction of the crowd. Sarah walked towards Steve who was standing in the middle of the field.

The crowd cheered when they saw her.

Steve smiled. “Today we are here to welcome the first graduate of the Young Avengers Initiative through the ranks to become an official Avenger,” Steve shouted. The crowd cheered again. “But first we have to see what she has to offer the team.” He turned to Sarah. “Liberty, let’s see what you can do without your powers.”

Steve lunged at Sarah but Sarah stopped his gross motor functions. “Sarah, I said no powers.” Steve scolded.

“No, you didn’t.” Sarah pushed.

“No, I didn’t,” Steve repeated back.

There was laughter from the crowd. An arrow suddenly flew in Sarah’s direction. She ducked out of the way of its trajectory and glared at Jamie. He stood on the sidelines with his bow raised.

“Stop cheating, Sarah.” He scolded.

“Ugh, fine,” Sarah said, letting her dad go.

Steve shook himself. “Cheeky.” He laughed and came at her again.

He and Sarah sparred. They were quite evenly matched. Steve had the experience and size but Sarah knew his moves before he made them and strength wise she took after him.

He threw his shield at her and she swatted it out of the air. As it fell she jumped and used it as a launch pad to attack Steve from above. She caught him with her thighs and flipped him out of the field.

Carol came at her. Flying in from above and shooting energy blasts.

“No fair!” Sarah cried as she zigzagged across the field avoiding them. “How come you get to use your powers and I can’t use mine?”

“You’ve got this, Sare,” Carol replied.

Sarah scooped Steve’s shield up from the field and used it to deflect an energy blast straight back at Carol. Carol got knocked backward out of the field.

Sarah felt Scott coming towards her. “I know where you are, Uncle Scott.” She said.

“But what about if I do this?” Scott appeared out of nowhere, returning to his original size and launching himself at Sarah. Sarah feinted to the left and Scott went sprawling on the ground.

“Yes. I know where you are when you do that too.” Sarah smirked.

Ants started swarming onto the field. “Please don’t make me kill your ant friends, Uncle Scott.” She groaned.

“Okay, Liberty. You can now show us your powers.” Steve shouted over the crowd.

Sarah grinned and looked at Scott.

“Oh, shit…” Scott cursed, scrambling backward away from her.

Bucky approached Steve and hooked his arm around Steve’s waist. “She looks pretty good out there.” He said.

Sarah had taken control of Scott’s body and was using him to get rid of the ants.

“She’s going to be an asset to the team. I just wish I could have protected her from this life.” Steve agreed.

“It never ends. The fighting. There’s always something else to fight for. Better she can defend herself than just be a victim of the next thing that comes.” Bucky said. “Besides, it’s what she’s chosen for herself. Jamie chose to opt out of being an Avenger. He’s happy living a normal life. It’s good for him. Sarah chose this. Just like you did. If there was anything I wanted for them it would be the ability to chose what they do. I didn’t really get that.”

Steve leaned over and kissed Bucky, pulling their bodies tightly together. “I love you. You know that right?”

“Yeah, I know. I love you too, ya punk.” Bucky grinned.

Steve ruffled his hair and pulled away. He stepped out into the field.

“I think you’ve proved yourself a worthy member of the team.” He shouted. “So with this new member of the group. Come welcome your new teammate. Avengers…”


End file.
